Twenty little girls and boys, aged six and seven, all huddled in a corner of their classroom and shot, at close range, one by one.

''They knew they were going to die,'' said a tearful local, who claimed knowledge of what happened in that room.

Everyone in Newtown, a pretty township in Connecticut, knew someone close to the heart of what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where in eight minutes, 20-year-old Adam Lanza inflicted the second-worst gun massacre in US history.

But many agree the mass execution of tiny children who had lived barely long enough to even grasp the concept of death, along with six of their teachers and carers, marks Sandy Hook as the most despicably notorious gun massacre of all time.

Heartbroken father Robbie Parker, said his murdered six-year-old daughter, Emilie, who was a big sister to his two younger girls, was a beautiful and kind child who always worried when others were hurting.

''My daughter Emilie would be one of the first ones to be standing and giving support to all the victims, because that's the kind of kid she is,'' said a stricken Mr Parker, who made the brave decision to face the cameras in order to honour his child's short life.

''I can't count the number of times Emilie would find someone feeling sad or frustrated and would make people a card,'' he said.

His last conversation with Emilie on Friday morning was in the Portuguese language she was learning.

''She said she loved me, I gave her a kiss and I was out the door.''

Among the 26 school victims were six adult women, including the principal of Sandy Hook Elementary, Dawn Hochsprung, and school psychologist, Mary Sherlach.

They were in a meeting on Friday morning when they heard the shooting and tried to intervene.

According to one account, Ms Hochsprung physically lunged at Lanza as she and Ms Sherlach tried to overtake him as he approached the classroom.

Both women were gunned down.Lanza, 20, shot the children and adults with a .223 semi-automatic Bushmaster assault rifle, and then most likely killed himself with one of the two handguns that were found at his side.

All the guns were legally registered in the name of his mother, Nancy. Lanza first shot her dead in the nearby home he shared with her, before heading to the school.

It is believed that Lanza shot his way through locked doors or windows and entered the school around 9.30am on Friday morning.

Six minutes later, the first calls were made to police. At 9.38am, the shooting ceased when Lanza turned a gun on himself.

Robbie Parker, father of a victim killed in the Connecticut shooting, has spoken to media.
Credit: Fox News

He said two of them were shot at very close range.

Dr Carver indicted there was an element of precision in the gunman's method, but did not go in to detail.

''I've been at this (job) for a third of century,'' said Dr Carver.

''My sensibilities may not be the average man's, but this probably is the worst I've seen or any of my colleagues have seen.''

He said all the victims were shot more than once.When asked if the victims had suffered, Dr Carver said: ''`If so, not for very long.''

Dr Carver said his medical team asked family members to bring photos of their loved ones so they could identify the victims from them.

''It's easier on the families when you do this,'' he said.

He indicated the victims were struck with the worst kind of bullets the type that fragment upon impact.

''This type of weapon, the bullets are designed in such a fashion this is very clinical, but the energy is deposited in the tissue,'' he said.

''I believe everybody was hit more than once.''Lieutenant J Paul Vance said the one woman who survived the massacre, who has not been named and is still being treated, was proving a crucial witness to understanding what had happened.

People mourn the loss of life at Sandy Hook Elementary School.Source: AFP

''She is doing fine, she is being treated and she will be instrumental in this investigation, as you can understand,'' Lieutenant Vance said.

Everyone in Newtown, a community of 26,000 in south-west Connecticut, is devastated.

Many, including Robbie Parker, have expressed the hope that their town not be defined by Lanza's hateful act.Newtown police assigned each of the family's victims a state trooper to prevent intrusions, namely from the media.

Driving around the beautiful town, which has a village atmosphere, you could see troopers' cars parked outside homes that had become places of unspeakable grief.

People turned to their churches in thousands, though religious leaders did not try to pretend they had the answers that people wanted. It was simply a question of offering places to gather, and to pray.

Child psychologists appeared on television, some advising parents to keep the massacre secret from their children.

Margaret Keayes, who went to Sandy Hook from kindergarten age, and is now the mother of five young children, did not agree.

''I've given each information as I feel they can process it,'' she said.

''They've seen me cry. I'm up front and real with them. They need to process it. They need to get it. I'd rather them hear the raw truth from me.''

Lou Blanco moved to Newtown from the Bronx, in New York, because he wanted a safe environment.

Mourners react at a makeshift memorial near the school following the mass shooting. Picture: AFPSource: AFP

His children went through the school and he got to know both Ms Hochsprung and Ms Sherlach.

''Dawn was vivacious and she loved kids,'' he said.

''I knew Mary, the psychologist, pretty well. She worked with my younger daughter who had trouble separating from us when she was going to school.

''She really turned her around. She was stern and got my daughter over her fears. It's no surprise she went out of that office and faced the gunman, her and the principal.''

Deepening the mystery, Janet Robinson, the Newtown school superintendent, categorically dismissed the reports that Nancy Lanza was a teacher at Sandy Hook.

Ms Robinson also expressed doubt that it would ever open again as a school.Toni Brideau, a waitress at the Blue Colony Diner, near the school, said one of her friend's sons, Jesse Lewis, aged six, used to visit her all the time in the diner, and she'd give him cookies.

She agreed to an interview but then found she simply couldn't speak.

''It's killing me,'' she cried.Lanza's father, Peter, who was divorced from his wife, issued a statement expressing sorrow for the victims, but shed no light on why his son had gone so wrong.

''We are in a state of disbelief and trying to find whatever answers we can,'' he said.

''We too are asking why.''Lanza's aunt, of Illinois, Marsha Lanza, said Adam was ''definitely the challenge in the family''.

But she said he was quiet and was not known to be violent.Marsha Lanza did not comment on reports Lanza was autistic.

''I know she (Nancy) had issues with (him in regards to) school, she mentioned home schooling him,'' she said.

''He was a very, very bright boy, he was smart.''

She said Nancy would never have tolerated violence from her son and would have sought professional help for him if she thought he was developing anger problems.

Not has it been explained why Nancy Lanza felt the need to legally own and register the three weapons found at the school.

President Obama is to visit Newtown on Sunday, US time, to speak with the families of the victims.

The bodies of the victims were moved out of the school by midnight on Friday.

Dr Carver said they families would now be able to bury their dead, though no funerals have been announced.

The churches in the area, which have been overwhelmed by a massive media presence, began positing message outside their places of prayer asking the press to stay away while locals attended vigils.

Firefighters kneel to pay their respects at a makeshift memorial near the school following the mass shooting. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

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